Earphone



June 23, 1931. 1-1. LIEBER EARPHONE Filed Dec. 9, 1929 mvawga 'HISATTORNEY 1 Y B n v Z I m ,v 1 r I I/ I r I 7 1 1 1 I w r l I 1/ Wxpositioned so that the battery serves as a Patented June 2 3, 1931UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HUGO LIEBER, OF

NEW YORK, N. Y, ASSIGNOR r sono'ronn CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A.CORPORATION OF NEW YORK EABPI-IONE Application filed December 9, 1929.Serial No'. 412,686.

This invention relates to earphones designed to assist the hearing ofthe deaf. Such earphones include a receiver or earpiece, a microphonetransmitter and a dry battery. The object of the present invention is soto connect the transmitter with the battery that the battery may be usedas an adjustable support for the transmitter and may easily be replacedby another When'it is worn out.

In accordance'with the invention, contact terminals adapted to engage adry battery are connected to the transmitter by a hinge and areindividually electrically connected to the circuit terminals of thetransmitter.

In order that the nature of my invention may be understood, 1 willdescribe in detail the specific embodiment of it which is shown in theaccompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side View of a combined transmitter and battery embodyingthe invention showing the parts positioned so that the battery serves asan adjustable table support for the transmitter;

Fig. 2 is a side view showing the parts pocket support for thetransmitter; Fig. 3 is an enlarged section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig.1, but showing the transmitter and battery at right angles toeach other;and

Figs. 4: and 5 are front and rear views, respectively, of thetransmitter.

To the rear side of the casing of the microphone transmitter 10, twobracket plates 11 and 12 are secured with a. Plate 13 of insulatingmaterial between the bracket plates and the casing wall. By means ofscrews which fasten the plates 11 and 12 to the transmitter casing, theyare separately connected to the positive and negative mem bers of themicrophone. The transmitter casing is-most desirably made of metal, andconnection to one microphone member is l5 made through the casing fromone of the bracket plates, as 11, the fastening screws for this platescrewing into threaded openings in the casing wall as shown in Fig. 3.The screws which hold' the other bracket plate 12 are insulated from thecasing wall .and screw into a metal plate or block 14 which is alsoinsulated from the casing wall and from which connection is made to theother microphone member. The microphone members may be of any suitableconstruction.

The bracket plates 11 and 12 each has a projecting ear 15 by means ofwhich the microphone casing is hinge-connected to a block 16 ofinsulating material by means of aligned pivot pins 17 which extendthrough holes in the cars 15 into an .opening extending endwise of theblock. The pivot pins are of such length that they do not meet withinthe block and each pin is formed with a transverse opening. Twoconnecting terminal plugs 20 are secured to the block 16 by screw endsscrewed into threaded openings one side of the block, and the screw endsof the terminal plugs extend into theopenings in the pivotpins, therebysecuring the pivot pins and establishing an electrical connection ofeach of the plugs with one of the pivot pins. Each pivot pin has a head21 at its outer end,and the ears 15 are spaced so that when the partsare assembled the ears will press resiliently outwardly against the head21. The battery 25 is provided with the usual plug sockets 26 and theterminal plugs 20 are spaced so as to be adapted to enter these sockets,thus providing means for mounting the block 16 on the end of thebattery. I

It will be seen that the construction described provides means formounting the transmitter on the battery with a hinge connection betweenthe transmitter casing and the plug carrying block 16 and. with thehinge axis ofiset sidewise from the rear wall of the transmitter casing,and at the same time provides the necessary circuit connections betweenthe battery and themicroph'one members. The pressure between the cars 15and the heads 21 of the pivot pins insures a good electric connectionbetween these parts and at the same time creates a friction between themwhich enables the hinge connection to hold the transmitter at any angleto the battery to which it may be turned.

The battery serves as an adjustable support for the transmitter. Thus,by placing the battery fiat on a table or other supporting surface, thetransmitter may be held in a vertical position or at any angle desiredfor receiving sound waves. This use is illustrated in Fig. 1. lVhen itis desired to support the transmitter in the users pocket, it isnecessary only to turn the transmitter to a position parallel to thebattery, as shown in Fig. 2, and then to place the battery in thepocket, so that the transmitter depends outside the pocket. T o replacethe battery with a new one it is necessary only to pull off the oldbattery and connect a new one by inserting the terminal plugs 20 intothe terminal sockets of the battery.

hat I claim is:

1. In an earphone device, the combination with a transmitter and abattery electrically conn ected,of a hinge connection between thetransmitter and the battery formed to permit the transmitter to beturned between a position in which its back extends along andsubstantially parallel to the adjacent side of the battery but spacedaway therefrom and a position in which it extends transversely of suchside to enable the battery to be used as an adjustable support for thetransmitter.

2. In an earphone device, the combination of a microphone transmitter, abattery, and a hinge connection between the transmitter and the batteryformed to provide two independent electric circuit connections betweenthe battery and the microphoneand offset from the back of thetransmitter and from the end of the battery to permit the transmitter tohe turned to a position in which the back of the transmitter extendsalong and substantially parallel to the adjacent side of the battery butspaced away therefrom.

3. In an earphone device, the combination of a microphone transmitter, abattery, and a hinge connection between the transmitter and the batteryoffset sidewise from one of said members and formed to provide twoindependent electric circuit connections between the battery and themicrophone, wherei by the battery is adapted to serve as a. tablesupport'and as a pocket support for the transmitter.

4. In an earphone device, the combination with a microphone transmitter,of means for detachably connecting the transmitter to a batterycomprising a block of insulating material, contact pieces carried bysaid insulating block and adapted to make a plug and socket connectionwith a battery, and a hinge connection between the transmitter and theinsulating block arranged to-provide independent electric circuitconnections between said contact pieces and the microphone members ofthe transmitter.

5. In an earphone device, the combination with a transmitter, of meansfor detachably connecting the transmitter to a battery comprising ablock of insulating material, a pair of contact pieces carried by saidblock and adapted to make a plug and socket connection to the battery,two aligned hinge pivots projecting from opposite sides of saidinsulating block and each in electric contact with one of said cont-actpieces, and separate insulated hinge brackets secured to the transmitterand each engaging one of said hinge pivots and forming electricalconnections to the transmitter.

6. In an earphone device, the combination with a transmitter and abattery connecting member, of headed hinge pivots on one of said partsinsulated from each other, and separate resilient hinge ears on theother of said parts insulated from each other and which press outwardlyagainst the heads of the hinge pivots to make electric contact therewithand to provide mechanical friction restraining the turning of the hinge,the battery connecting member having a pair of contact pieces fordetachably securing and electrically connecting said member to abattery.

7. In an earphone device, the combination of a microphone transmitter, afiat elongated battery, and a connection between the upper portions ofsaid transmitter and of said battery formed to hold the transmitter inposition with its back extending along and substantially parallel to theadjacent side of the battery but spaced away ,therefrom.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

- HUGO LIEBER.

